Useful links
Unit of study_
CRIT5008: Evidence and Ethics in Critical Care
2026 unit information
This capstone unit for the Master of Medicine (Critical Care) and Master of Science in Medicine (Critical Care) degree aims to develop students' ethical, reflective, critical thinking and evidence-based decision-making skills, required to inform best clinical practice. The unit contains an introduction to key ethical concepts and methods of ethical analysis; and an overview of evidence relevant to health care practice and research. Students discuss and apply key ethical principles to clinical scenarios and also appraise the evidence base for one clinical case study related to a critical care scenario. The critical appraisal involves a literature search and review of selected studies, and application of critical appraisal skills. Learning modules include literature search and critical appraisal skills, applying decision analysis to facilitate shared decision-making in practice, and application of evidence to inform individual patient care. Understanding our biases, using effective communication and conflict skills as clinicians, is also discussed and developed in the content of this UoS.
Unit details and rules
Managing faculty or University school:
Medicine and Health
| Study level | Postgraduate |
|---|---|
| Academic unit | Critical Care |
| Credit points | 6 |
|
Prerequisites:
?
|
None |
|---|---|
|
Corequisites:
?
|
CEPI5100 and 18 credit points of stream-specific units from (a minimum of 12 credit points from (CRIT5001 or CRIT5002 or CRIT5003 or CRIT5004 or CRIT5005 or CRIT5006 or CRIT5007 or CRIT5009 or CRIT5010 or CRIT5011 or CRIT5012 or CRIT5014 or CRIT5015 or CRIT5016 or CRIT5017 or CRIT5018 or CRIT5019 or CRIT5020) and up to 6 credit points from (CLNP5005 or INTM5014 or PAED5007)) |
| Prohibitions:
?
|
None |
| Assumed knowledge:
?
|
None |
At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:
- LO1. Explain and compare the features of predominant ethical theories relevant to evidence based health care practice and research
- LO2. Describe and critically evaluate ethical principles and concepts such as autonomy, capacity, vulnerability, best interests and consent and their role in health care practice and research
- LO3. Apply these ethical concepts to relevant contemporary issues or challenges in health care practice and research
- LO4. Formulate a clinical question so that it fits into one of the four main areas (diagnosis, prognosis, intervention, harm) and can be answered by finding and using the best evidence
- LO5. Select sources of EBM material appropriate for a given question
- LO6. Retrieve appropriate evidence through optimal querying of selected sources
- LO7. Critically appraise retrieved evidence for validity, importance and applicability including how the limitations of retrieved evidence modifies its applicability to patient care
- LO8. Apply the factors involved in clinical decision making as they relate to an individual patient.
Unit availability
This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.
The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.
| Session | MoA ? | Location | Outline ? |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Semester 2 2026
|
Online | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney |
Outline unavailable
|
Find your current year census dates
Modes of attendance (MoA)
This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.